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1 – 10 of over 29000James Shiveley and Thomas Misco
This article argues that the teaching of generalizations in today’s social studies classrooms is seldom done well, if at all, and that it is time to reestablish this strategy as…
Abstract
This article argues that the teaching of generalizations in today’s social studies classrooms is seldom done well, if at all, and that it is time to reestablish this strategy as part of the everyday practice of social studies teachers. The authors review the history and value of generalizations in the classroom and provide some practical applications and examples of their use. The case is made that such practice will not only enhance the vibrancy of social studies classes and increase student interest, but will also enhance understanding of the content and improve the development of citizenship skills.
Lee D. Parker and Deryl Northcott
The purpose of this paper is to identify and articulate concepts and approaches to qualitative generalisation that will offer qualitative accounting researchers avenues for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and articulate concepts and approaches to qualitative generalisation that will offer qualitative accounting researchers avenues for enhancing and justifying the general applicability of their research findings and conclusions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study and arguments draw from multidisciplinary approaches to this issue. The analysis and theorising is based on published qualitative research literatures from the fields of education, health sciences, sociology, information systems, management and marketing, as well as accounting.
Findings
The paper develops two overarching generalisation concepts for application by qualitative accounting researchers. These are built upon a number of qualitative generalisation concepts that have emerged in the multidisciplinary literatures. It also articulates strategies for enhancing the generalisability of qualitative accounting research findings.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides qualitative accounting researchers with understandings, arguments and justifications for the generalisability of their research and the related potential for wider accounting and societal contributions. It also articulates the key factors that impact on the quality of research generalisation that qualitative researchers can offer.
Originality/value
This paper presents the most comprehensively sourced and developed approach to the concepts, strategies and unique deliverables of qualitative generalising hitherto available in the accounting research literature.
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Generalization in accounting research is always suspect as thesocial context and institutions of accounting change over time andspace. However, exactly for this reason, there are…
Abstract
Generalization in accounting research is always suspect as the social context and institutions of accounting change over time and space. However, exactly for this reason, there are a number of different ways to reach pragmatic and somewhat generalizable results. No research programme or approach has an absolute upper hand in understanding the true dynamics of economic development. The genuine puzzle of inductive reasoning creates a rhetorical element for all attempts to generalize in accounting research. The main rhetorics used in accounting studies are statistical, contextual, and constructive generalization. To put it in broad terms, statistical generalization rhetoric relies on formal arguments brought from a mathematical theory, contextual generalization rhetoric is based on understanding of the historical and institutional context, and constructive generalization relies on the diffusion of innovation. Combining the often silenced opportunities of contextual or constructive generalization rhetorics in case studies, and noticing the typically omitted problems of statistical generalization rhetoric, argues that these research approaches are not as far from each other as current methodological discussion would suggest. On the contrary, argues that in terms of generalization, both case and statistical studies face the same obstacles of justifying real induction, and both approaches, if conducted properly, have a chance of producing results that are generalizable to some extent.
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Hanne Nørreklit, Lennart Nørreklit and Falconer Mitchell
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the relationship between research and practice. It addresses the question: How can practitioners’ use of generalisations be understood…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the relationship between research and practice. It addresses the question: How can practitioners’ use of generalisations be understood, with a view towards producing research-based generalisations that facilitate use in practice?
Design/methodology/approach
Language games are used to explore generalisation in practice, and the framework of pragmatic constructivism is adopted to characterise the generation of practice generalisation.
Findings
Practice is conceptualised as a complex set of clusters of organised actions run by a set of applied generalisations and driven by human intentions. Practice also encompasses reflective activities that aim to create the generalisations and reflect them into the specific circumstances to create functioning practice. Generalisations depend on underlying concepts. The formation and structure of concepts is explored and used to create the construction and use of different types of generalisation. Generalisations function as cognitive building blocks in constructing strings of interconnected functioning activities. Managers make their own functioning generalisations that, however, do not satisfy the research criteria for acceptable generalisations. The research/practice gap is shaped by the very different language games played.
Research limitations/implications
If research is to be useful to practice, the generalisations produced must methodologically articulate the types of generalisation that pervade the methods with which practitioners construct functioning activities. Further research has to give more insight into such processes.
Originality/value
The paper contributes insight into both the generalisation debate and the research/practice gap debate.
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This research paper seeks to advance the techniques of “within-paradigm” triangulation and theoretical generalization adopted in qualitative field studies for new theory…
Abstract
Purpose
This research paper seeks to advance the techniques of “within-paradigm” triangulation and theoretical generalization adopted in qualitative field studies for new theory development in management control.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the evidence gleaned from three positivist case studies along with some published interpretivist studies, this paper identifies three triangulation approaches and links them with three forms of theoretical generalization in qualitative field studies.
Findings
While the “literal” approach to triangulation has its place in the extant literature, this study finds that two other approaches, labeled “convergent” and “normative” triangulation, which are relevant in many circumstances to link multiple pieces of evidence in order to build credible explanations. In theory development, while the extant forms of theoretical generalization (constructive and contextual) are useful for identifying new solutions for both practical and theoretical concerns, this paper finds that a third form, namely “transposed” logic, is relevant in identifying new control problems that can benefit by adopting the observed unusual solutions.
Originality/value
Within triangulation, while the extant literature endorses the role of literal triangulation in obtaining consistent evidence, including how verifying inconsistent responses helps improve the validity of the obtained evidence, this paper advances two new triangulation approaches that can enrich the extant literature. Within theoretical generalization, while the extant literature deems constructive and contextual forms as “rhetoric”, this paper (1) expands their status to “logic” by clarifying their theoretical purpose and (2) introduces one new form, namely “transposed” logic that helps identify a generalizable range of management control problems that can adopt the observed unusual solution.
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Daniel J. Adriaenssen and Jon-Arild Johannessen
– The purpose of this paper is to make a small contribution to reflections on general methodology, not specific methods, in social science.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to make a small contribution to reflections on general methodology, not specific methods, in social science.
Design/methodology/approach
Systemic methodology.
Findings
First, schematic typology of six conceptual models. Second, typology for determining levels of abstraction for different models and degrees of generalisation. Third, typology for generalisation on the basis of a case study. Fourth, strategy for developing conceptual models.
Research limitations/implications
Research falls into two main categories: conceptual generalisation and empirical generalisation. Conceptual generalisation is an investigation whereby the researcher uses other researchers’ empirical findings in conjunction with his or her own process of conceptualisation in order to generalise and identify a pattern. This contrasts with empirical generalisation, where the researcher investigates a phenomenon or problem that is apparent in the empirical data, and only thereafter generalises in the light of his or her own findings.
Practical implications
A low level of understanding of conceptual generalisation among masters and PhD students. With this paper the authors try to change this perception among students.
Originality/value
Developing a systemic methodology in order for students and university teachers to understand conceptual generalisations.
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Jaakko Virkkunen and Juha Pihlaja
This article proposes a new way of conceptualizing workplace learning as distributed systems of appropriation, development and the use of practice‐relevant generalizations fixed…
Abstract
This article proposes a new way of conceptualizing workplace learning as distributed systems of appropriation, development and the use of practice‐relevant generalizations fixed within mediational artifacts. This article maintains that these systems change historically as technology and increasingly sophisticated forms of production develop. Within these parameters, Taylorism is analyzed as the principal form of the learning systems of mass production, and the total quality management as the learning system of flexible manufacturing, or continuous improvement of processes, as it is also called. The article also maintains that the current IC technology‐based transformation of businesses increasingly calls for meta‐level learning, which makes it possible for the stakeholders within a given system of production to flexibly transform their system of producing generalizations, as the business concept's life cycle proceeds from one phase to another.
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Leslie D. MacKay, Kent McIntosh and Jacqueline A. Brown
Many instances of maladaptive behaviors are due at least in part to a lack of social skills. Although there are effective interventions for teaching social skills, generalization…
Abstract
Many instances of maladaptive behaviors are due at least in part to a lack of social skills. Although there are effective interventions for teaching social skills, generalization of trained social skills remains a challenge. One promising way to enhance generalization may be to use functional behavior assessments to select social skills to teach that can meet individuals’ specific needs. This chapter describes a process for embedding function-based support into social skills interventions that may generalize to untrained settings. The chapter concludes with a case study demonstrating generalization of positive peer interaction from recess to a classroom setting for a grade two student. Results indicated that the student’s behavior during recess and during classroom instruction both changed upon implementation of the recess intervention, and these behaviors maintained over three months after the intervention was withdrawn.
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Peter P. Kuvyrkov and Sergei K. Naidenov
The important role of functional and structural generalization of informative and communicative processes is considered.
Abstract
Purpose
The important role of functional and structural generalization of informative and communicative processes is considered.
Design/methodology/approach
It is denoted that generalitics suggests a means to obtain a new information which is more rich in content, more useful, jamproof and optimal. An increasingly important role of generalitics in the development of the informative equipment is underlined.
Findings
Upon the analysis made new attributes of information are suggested and estimated: informativeness, informness and informability. A clear description of the significance of generalization for the communication units is presented.
Originality/value
Development of the theoretic foundations allows for the creation of new generations of the informative technique, automated control and telemechanic systems and communications as a whole.
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W.L. Pearn, K.S. Chen and G.H. Lin
For non‐normal Pearsonian processes, Clements proposed a method for calculating estimators of the two basic process capability indices Cp and Cpk. Pearn and Kotz applied Clements’…
Abstract
For non‐normal Pearsonian processes, Clements proposed a method for calculating estimators of the two basic process capability indices Cp and Cpk. Pearn and Kotz applied Clements’ method to obtain estimators for the other two more advanced process capability indices Cpm and Cpmk. Their considerations on those indices, however, are restricted to processes with symmetric tolerances. Recently, Pearn and Chen proposed a generalization of the index Cpk to handle cases with asymmetric tolerances. The generalization takes into account the asymmetry of the manufacturing specifications, which is shown to be superior to the other existing methods. In this paper, we apply this approach and consider a generalization of Clements’ method for non‐normal Pearsonian processes where the manufacturing tolerances are asymmetric. Comparisons between the original Clements’ method and the proposed generalization are provided. The results indicate that the generalization is more accurate than the original Clements’ method in measuring process capability.
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